19.

 What is the position of the laity in the Church?

            The Holy Spirit's gifts are poured out on the laity according to God's economy of salvation, and the laity share with the bishops and clergy in being guardians of the truth. While they do not participate in the bishop's divinely appointed office of teaching and proclaiming the truth, they do guard it, for all of God's people possess the truth (Christian dogma). As Archimandrite Adrianos, a former abbot of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, notes in this regard:

A decision of the Orthodox Church is never imposed from above, as it is by papism: the people of God are the defenders of the faith, wielding a veto, rejecting whatever is contrary to Tradition, and even judging the Orthodoxy of any ecumenical synod that can be characterized as a “robber synod.” [A Letter of Orthodox Confession, p. 6].

The laity can also take part in the Councils, as did St. Constantine and other Roman (Byzantine) emperors. However, all final decisions and formal proclamations of faith in a Council are strictly the prerogatives of bishops by virtue of their teaching charisma.